Expression of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway and Its Regulatory Role in Type I Collagen with TGF-β1 in Scleral Fibroblasts from an Experimentally Induced Myopia Guinea Pig Model

Abstract

Background. To investigate Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway expression and its regulation of type I collagen by TGF-β1 in scleral fibroblasts from form-deprivation myopia (FDM) guinea pig model. Methods. Wnt isoforms were examined using genome microarrays. Scleral fibroblasts from FDM group and self-control (SC) group were cultured. Wnt isoforms, β-catenin, TGF-β1, and type I collagen expression levels were examined in the two groups with or without DKK-1 or TGF-β1 neutralizing antibody. Results. For genome microarrays, the expression of Wnt3 in FDM group was significantly greater as confirmed in retinal and scleral tissue. The expression of Wnt3 and β-catenin significantly increased in FDM group and decreased significantly with DKK-1. TGF-β1 expression level decreased significantly in FDM group and increased significantly with DKK-1. Along with morphological misalignment inside and outside cells, the amount of type I collagen decreased in FDM group. Furthermore, type I collagen increased and became regular in DKK-1 intervention group, whereas it decreased and rearranged more disorder in TGF-β1 neutralizing antibody intervention group. Conclusions. The activation of Wnt3/β-catenin signaling pathway was demonstrated in primary scleral fibroblasts in FDM. This pathway further reduced the expression of type I collagen by TGF-β1, which ultimately played a role in scleral remodeling during myopia development.

Peer Review #1 of "Differential gene expression in skeletal organic matrix proteins of scleractinian corals associated with mixed aragonite/calcite skeletons under low mMg/Ca conditions (v0.1)"

“…For example, the Wnt signaling pathway and JAK-STAT cascade were both identified as up-regulated genes. It has already been reported that the former and TGF-β/BMP play roles in the biomineralization of corals (Gutner-Hoch et al 2017;Zoccola et al 2009), in addition to being involved in collagen secretion in human cells (Li et al 2016). In the present results, the Wnt signaling pathway showed similar expression patterns to the collagen metabolic process, suggesting that it may be involved in coral skeletogenesis through the secretion of collagen.…”

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Regulates Scleral Remodeling in a Guinea Pig Model of Form-Deprivation Myopia

“…In this study, we found that TM stimulation increased COL1A1 and TGF-β1 levels at 24 hours but reduced their expression at 48 hours in scleral fibroblasts. It has been well established that the levels of TGF-β and collagen were reduced during FD [10,43]. However, we found that, in vitro, chemically-induced ER stress had a time-dependent bidirectional regulation effect on collagen transcription.…”

Pressure Stimuli Improve the Proliferation of Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells under Hypoxic Culture Conditions

“…In addition, the cells can remodel the ECM [ 35 ]. In particular, the pressure used in this study is a type of compression, and the fate of cells is determined by the regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway after the recognition of compression through ECM components, such as collagen [ 33 , 41 ] and vimentin [ 42 ]. When it comes to genes that are significantly regulated by hypoxia and pressure, in particular, GPC4 decreased in both hypoxia and high-pressure conditions.…”